The College Football Playoff saw a wrench get thrown into the works this weekend, after Duke’s upset win over Virginia to claim the ACC championship. With five losses, the Blue Devils were not going to be one of the 12 teams moving on to the playoff, and it allowed two Group of Six champions, Tulane from the American and James Madison from the Sun Belt, to be a part of the bracket. ESPN’s Booger McFarland is critical of the decision to allow teams from outside the Power Four conferences be a part of the playoff.
“No one in America aside from JMU or Tulane thinks that JMU or Tulane can win a championship this year,” McFarland said on Sunday’s CFP Selection Show. “Like, that’s the matter of fact, but they’re in it because we had to include them based on the parameters we were given, and I think that’s going to rub a lot of people the wrong way.”
Booger McFarland on College Football Playoff, James Madison and Tulane, and the Group of Five: “We’re trying to include teams to make them a part of this, when I think everyone knows that, yeah, they’re good, but can they play with the big boys?…” 🏈🎙️ #CFB #CFP pic.twitter.com/OtV3I9VZnB
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 7, 2025
Many College Pundits Agree With McFarland
Unfortunately for fans of David going up against Goliath in college football, plenty of experts are siding with the big boys.
Former Florida State quarterback Danny Kannell, working as an analyst for CBS Sports, didn’t mince words about the Green Wave and Dukes being a part of the playoff.
“The teams I feel bad for are Vanderbilt, Texas, Notre Dame, teams that are very clearly better than either one of these Group of Five teams, and they’re sitting at home,” Kannell said. “Why are we wasting spots in the College Football Playoff for these teams?”
“Why are we wasting spots in the College Football Playoff with those teams.”@dannykanell obliterates James Madison and Tulane 😭
Should G5 teams be included in the CFP?
— Covers (@Covers) December 7, 2025
Former Fox Sports and Outkick columnist Jason Whitlock called having Tulane and James Madison in the playoff, “DEI.”
INCLUSIVITY has destroyed America. You can see it with this college football playoff. Instead of the best teams, we get Tulane and JMU, teams that absolutely do not belong.
Tulane/JMU = Ketanji Brown Jackson.
DEI. Didn’t. Earn. It.
— Jason Whitlock (@WhitlockJason) December 7, 2025
Mike Valenti and Rico Beard of 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit feels no one outside of alumni wants to see the Green Wave or Dukes in this playoff.
Does anyone want to watch Tulane and James Madison in the College Football Playoff? pic.twitter.com/YXjFZs4ZjN
— 97.1 The Ticket: (@971theticketxyt) December 8, 2025
And Outkick’s Dan Dakich calls having Tulane and James Madison in the College Football Playoff “absurd.”
Having Tulane AND James Madison in the College Football Playoff is nonsense@dandakich pic.twitter.com/kYAx0CKuER
— OutKick (@Outkick) December 7, 2025
But despite what McFarland and the other college football bigwigs think, we’ll get the Green Wave against Ole Miss and the Dukes and Oregon Ducks on December 20. Leave to outgoing Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall to encapsulate the feeling of being in the big boy pool.
“It won’t be cool if we get our ass beat.”
If #Tulane beats Ole Miss, it would have homefield advantage against UGA in the quarterfinals: which is the @SugarBowlNola.
But Sumrall isn’t playing hypotheticals.
“That would be cool. It won’t be cool if we get our ass beat.” #RollWave
FULL PRESSER: https://t.co/mHAi4OwnG6 pic.twitter.com/19S79GzOGn
— Jared Paul Joseph (@JaredPJoseph) December 7, 2025
